Polio Vaccine Demonstrates Importance of Immunization

Pictures of polio patients enclosed in iron lungs were common during the 20th century.

Pictures of polio patients enclosed in iron lungs were common during the 20th century.

No one likes shots. But the diseases prevented by vaccinations, like polio, are more than a prick in the arm. Images of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt wheelchair bound and children infected with polio lying in iron lungs or with leg braces are reminders of how devastating polio was.

Richard Lampe, M.D., chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, said parents feared the disease and many would not let their children out of the house.

“I grew up in an era when every summer parents were afraid of their children contracting polio,” Lampe said. “Parents were afraid to let children use swimming pools in the summer for fear of getting polio. I can remember going to a church on a Sunday receiving a sugar cube with the oral polio vaccine as part of a community effort to halt the disease.”

A 1916 polio epidemic in the U.S. killed 6,000 people and paralyzed 27,000 more. In the early 1950s, there were more than 20,000 cases of polio each year. At its peak, poliomyelitis or polio, paralyzed and killed up to half a million people each year.

Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine in 1952. On Feb. 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh received the first injections of the polio vaccine.

Lampe said polio is caused by a virus and enters the body through the mouth. In the ‘50s it caused paralysis or death, usually by paralyzing the muscles that helped patients breathe.

“I practice in the United States where the last case of Polio was in 1979,” Lampe said. “But polio has not been eliminated from the rest of the world. The only way to be protected is to receive the vaccine.”

Lampe said children should get four doses of the polio vaccine at these ages:

  • a dose at 2 months
  • a dose at 4 months
  • a dose at 6-18 months
  • a booster dose at 4-6 years

Some combination vaccines (several different vaccines in the same shot) contain the polio vaccine. Children getting these vaccines may need one more (a fifth) dose.

“Who would not want their child to be protected from a preventable cause of paralysis or death,” Lampe said. “Vaccines are safe and effective and are our most effective way to prevent polio. Iron lungs and respirators belong in museums—not to treat polio when it is preventable.”

As a result of the polio vaccine, the World Health Organization certified the Americas polio free in 1994; the Western Pacific followed in 2000, and Europe in 2002. Since it was first administered in 1954, the method of delivering the vaccine has changed from an injection to the oral polio vaccine and the actual make-up of the vaccine has been altered.

“As a child, I remember a neighbor friend who contracted polio and was paralyzed the rest of his life and had to walk with crutches,” Lampe said. “I can guarantee you that his mother wished the polio vaccine came five years earlier.”

Related Stories

A Rite of Passage for Next Generation of Physicians

Students in TTUHSC's School of Medicine Class of 2028 received their first white coat and pledged their commitment to the medical profession at the White Coat Ceremony Friday (July 26) at the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

As spring approaches, some people’s thoughts turn to gardening. Whether it’s a flower garden they desire or a vegetable garden want to have, they begin planning what they’ll plant and what they need to do to ensure a successful garden.

Adopt a Growth Mindset for a Better Life

A “growth mindset” accepts that our intelligence and talents can develop over time, and a person with that mindset understands that intelligence and talents can improve through effort and learning.

Recent Stories

Research

McMahon Receives NIH Grant to Help Build TTUHSC Research Capacity

In an effort to grow research excellence at TTUHSC, a project team led by Lance McMahon, Ph.D., senior vice president for research and innovation, recently received a three-year, $1.16 million grant to conduct a capacity-building study.

Campus Life

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Unveils Craddicks’ Honorary Name for Physician Assistant Studies Program

TTUHSC unveiled a new name for a decade-old program on Oct. 15. The Nadine and Tom Craddick Physician Assistant Studies Program honors Rep. Tom Craddick and his wife Nadine.

Health

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women overall in the United States will have a diagnosis of breast cancer sometime in her life. There are currently more than four million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.